WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:08.519 So President Trump issued his much ballyhooed statement on where he is on the abortion 2 00:00:08.759 --> 00:00:15.480 issue. And I'm sure I'm the last person to talk about it over the 3 00:00:15.519 --> 00:00:21.440 course of you know, there's thirteen straight hours of talk radio here, But 4 00:00:22.079 --> 00:00:24.760 as director Right to Life es Central California, I feel like I kind of 5 00:00:24.760 --> 00:00:30.120 have to talk about it. There's a number of things about this that are 6 00:00:31.239 --> 00:00:35.079 let me just give the top line assessment here. I thought it was wildly 7 00:00:35.159 --> 00:00:40.960 inadequate. The number of times he said that people have to listen to their 8 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:48.679 heart, frankly made me want to vomit. You got to listen to your 9 00:00:48.719 --> 00:01:00.399 heart on he almost takes the attitude that he is a uninvolved bystander on the 10 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:07.400 issue. There was almost nothing about actual policies he supports, he doesn't support, 11 00:01:07.480 --> 00:01:11.640 administrative actions he will or won't support, Like if you're going to make 12 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:17.040 some big I'm the candidate that I need the votes of all the pro lifers 13 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:29.280 you gotta give. It was the most non policy laden alleged policy statement in 14 00:01:29.319 --> 00:01:37.840 the history of mankind. There's all kinds of stuff that even he did in 15 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:44.599 his first administration, or at least that his administration did, that I would 16 00:01:44.920 --> 00:01:48.239 bet dollars to donuts. He doesn't actually remember because it was a bunch of 17 00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:53.680 administrative stuff that he didn't necessarily care about very much. There's all kinds of 18 00:01:53.879 --> 00:02:00.680 regulatory stuff that a new presidential administration can do that has a major impact on 19 00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:08.319 abortion. Are you going to promote policies to allow people to purchase insurance plans 20 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:14.599 that don't cover abortion in states like California? Are you going to what are 21 00:02:14.599 --> 00:02:16.560 you going to do about the FDA regulation of the abortion pill. That's a 22 00:02:16.599 --> 00:02:20.520 huge issue right now. It's already in front of the US Supreme Court. 23 00:02:20.800 --> 00:02:25.199 The Biden administration massively deregulated the abortion pill. You could come in and do 24 00:02:25.240 --> 00:02:34.120 something about that. There are a million and one things that the Trump administration 25 00:02:34.479 --> 00:02:38.439 could do on the question of abortion, and he he took the opportunity of 26 00:02:38.439 --> 00:02:46.719 this statement to clarify nothing. The only thing he took any time to talk 27 00:02:46.759 --> 00:02:57.840 about was IVF. Now, I recognize I'm in the minority on the question 28 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:07.280 of IVF. I think IVF is seriously. I think IVF while the people 29 00:03:07.639 --> 00:03:14.879 who make use of it are often motivated by heartbreaking conditions of infertility, and 30 00:03:14.919 --> 00:03:20.280 I'm not judging those individual people. The fact of the matter remains that during 31 00:03:20.439 --> 00:03:29.840 IVF there is in America because the IVF industry is pretty much completely unregulated or 32 00:03:29.879 --> 00:03:32.520 certainly far less regulated than it is in Europe, certainly far less regulated than 33 00:03:32.520 --> 00:03:38.319 it is in There's some American states that regulated a little better, like Louisiana. 34 00:03:38.840 --> 00:03:46.599 IVF involves creating far more embryos than can ever possibly come to term, 35 00:03:46.599 --> 00:03:54.039 and so you have this horrific situation of millions of embryos being created who either 36 00:03:54.120 --> 00:04:06.719 have to be indefinitely kept in frozen storage or who are destroyed. So Trump 37 00:04:06.919 --> 00:04:12.240 talks on and on about IVF because of why. About a month and a 38 00:04:12.280 --> 00:04:17.319 half ago, the Alabama Supreme Court issued a decision that basically all it said 39 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:27.600 was, Yes, if you negligently destroy IVF embryos, parents can sue over 40 00:04:27.639 --> 00:04:35.319 it. That's all it said. It was a case that the Alabama State 41 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:45.199 Supreme Court was assessing that was looking at a guy had wandered into the back 42 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:51.160 of an IVF clinic had dropped a petri dish or some container with a bunch 43 00:04:51.160 --> 00:04:57.319 of IVF embryos and destroyed the embryos. The parents of those embryos sued the 44 00:04:57.319 --> 00:05:04.680 IVF clinic, saying that was basically a They sued the IVF clinic under Alabama's 45 00:05:04.680 --> 00:05:12.319 wrongful Death Statute, which Alabama's wrongful Death Statute has allowed people to file civil 46 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:17.319 lawsuits for not just the deaths of live, walking around people, but also 47 00:05:18.680 --> 00:05:26.879 children in the womb. So the Alabama Supreme Court said, well, if 48 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:32.120 we allow people to sue under this wrongful death statute for negligent conduct that results 49 00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:35.959 in the death of an embryo who's inside a mother's womb, why wouldn't we 50 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:40.000 allow people to sue for the death of an embryo that's outside of a mother's 51 00:05:40.040 --> 00:05:43.519 womb. That's all it was. It was the Alabama State Supreme Court saying, 52 00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:49.639 hey, IVF clinics, you are subject to the same kinds of negligence. 53 00:05:50.279 --> 00:05:57.199 You know, not behaving as a reasonably prudent person should, not engaging 54 00:05:57.199 --> 00:06:00.680 in negligence, not allowing random, unsecure people to wander into the back of 55 00:06:00.680 --> 00:06:06.279 your clinic and destroy embryos. You are subject to those kinds of standards of 56 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:14.079 conduct. It had nothing to do with the overturning of Rob Waite, It 57 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:19.040 had nothing to do with abortion policy. But because the Alabama Supreme Court said 58 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:25.279 that, And by the way, it's the Alabama State Supreme Court, not 59 00:06:25.399 --> 00:06:31.720 a federal court, not the Supreme Court, the Alabama Supreme Court. It's 60 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:39.120 a court whose only area of jurisdiction is over Alabama law. It has no 61 00:06:39.319 --> 00:06:50.319 impact even on Mississippi law. Because that happened, all these Republicans, because 62 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:57.720 IVF has massive mainstream popularity, All these Republicans ran around like chickens with their 63 00:06:57.720 --> 00:07:01.959 heads cut off, terrified at the idea that whole Democrats will use this to 64 00:07:03.160 --> 00:07:08.399 slam us. For me, if if Democrats see this, they'll they'll say 65 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:11.399 that we're anti IVF. So we got to make sure that we show that 66 00:07:11.439 --> 00:07:15.360 we're super pro IVF. So what happens, Well, the Alabama state Legislature, 67 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:19.000 which Trump effusively praises in this statement, Today, the Alabama State Legislature 68 00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:29.040 passes a law that grants almost complete immunity from lawsuits to the IVF industry, 69 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:33.399 which is like, why shouldn't they be subject to a lawsuit if they behave 70 00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:45.480 negligently and destroy embryos that parents want to keep. This is insane. Now, 71 00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:50.040 So Trump spends all this time in this statement talking about IVF, a 72 00:07:50.120 --> 00:07:55.959 procedure that is nowhere at risk in the United States of America. I should 73 00:07:55.959 --> 00:08:01.439 add that no Republican has proposed limiting that. In fact, Republics have disgustingly 74 00:08:01.480 --> 00:08:07.600 and obsequiously bent over backwards to pledge allegiance to it. Over the last month 75 00:08:07.639 --> 00:08:13.000 and a half, he goes on and on about wanting to protect IVF in 76 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:16.639 all fifty states, but then on the whole question of abortion, he just 77 00:08:16.680 --> 00:08:20.639 seems to take the posture of, Hey, well, every state's gonna do 78 00:08:20.680 --> 00:08:24.600 what they're gonna do. Every state's gonna do what they're gonna do, and 79 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:30.399 you gotta vote the way you want to vote on it. Just follow your 80 00:08:30.439 --> 00:08:35.519 heart, got to do what's right for your family. You do you. 81 00:08:39.399 --> 00:08:46.200 And he gives this attitude again as if he's basically decided I'm out, I'm 82 00:08:46.360 --> 00:08:50.240 I'm out of this question. I am a bystander to the question of abortion. 83 00:08:50.840 --> 00:08:58.720 Not one word about These are the executive policies my administration will pursue about 84 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:01.960 a border. We will have no overseas funding of abortion. Will we will 85 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:07.840 reinstate the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits federal funding for foreign and g o's 86 00:09:07.879 --> 00:09:16.440 to perform abortions. We will look into roll back the FDA's deregulation of the 87 00:09:16.440 --> 00:09:20.919 abortion pill, which is which, by the way, is the singular thing 88 00:09:20.279 --> 00:09:24.440 that would have the biggest impact on abortion, is relooking at the FDA's regulation 89 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:31.399 of the abortion pill. That is the one single thing that would actually have 90 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:41.840 an impact. The thing about his statement, though, that I that I 91 00:09:41.879 --> 00:09:48.519 find, I guess the most troubling. Whether there are two things I find 92 00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:56.559 troubling. One is the idea that he is doing some brilliant political strategicy. 93 00:09:58.360 --> 00:10:03.480 And this is the thing I sort of of dislike about the Trump orbit, 94 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:11.279 the Trump universe. Trump says what he says, Okay, The problem is 95 00:10:11.320 --> 00:10:20.399 that there's this universe of Trump sycophancy that demands that you have to pledge allegiance 96 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:26.080 to the greatness of every single thought that has ever come out of Donald Trump's 97 00:10:26.120 --> 00:10:31.840 head. And all these people on Twitter, all these Trump sycophants, are 98 00:10:31.879 --> 00:10:35.039 like, oh, the President Trump's doing the smart thing here. He's making 99 00:10:35.080 --> 00:10:39.799 sure that Democrats can't use abortion as an issue to pound us with way to 100 00:10:39.879 --> 00:10:46.240 go Donald Trump, Oh this is brilliant. He's having these reasonable exceptions to 101 00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:52.039 abortion, like rape and incest. They're acting as if Donald Trump has like, 102 00:10:52.480 --> 00:11:00.120 you know, he's cracked the genetic code, that he's you know, 103 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:03.120 solved some grand equation that no one else has ever solved. He is doing 104 00:11:03.159 --> 00:11:13.159 the same exact thing that Republican presidential candidates have done for forty years. He 105 00:11:13.320 --> 00:11:18.080 is compromising on the abortion question in this way and that way, and this 106 00:11:18.159 --> 00:11:24.679 way and that way for the sake of winning an election. Let's not pretend 107 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:31.159 like Mitt Romney wouldn't be doing the exact same thing right now. Let's not 108 00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:35.159 pretend like George W. Bush wouldn't be doing the exact same thing right now. 109 00:11:35.639 --> 00:11:43.159 Let's not pretend like so many other Republican politicians wouldn't George H. W. 110 00:11:43.240 --> 00:11:50.480 Bush wouldn't have done the exact same thing right now. This is not 111 00:11:50.759 --> 00:11:56.120 some grand, unheard of political strategicy. He's doing the exact same thing. 112 00:11:56.840 --> 00:12:01.559 And this is the problem with Trump, all right, the problem with Trump 113 00:12:01.559 --> 00:12:11.039 when it comes to the abortion issue. Trump was until twenty twelve, when 114 00:12:11.039 --> 00:12:20.480 he was sixty five years old. Donald Trump was a pro choice person until 115 00:12:20.519 --> 00:12:26.639 the age of sixty five, at which point he started wanting to run as 116 00:12:26.840 --> 00:12:31.399 a run for president as a Republican, and then all of a sudden, 117 00:12:31.960 --> 00:12:37.840 he changed his political position on abortion at the age of sixty five. Now, 118 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:43.440 I don't know about you, and I'm not saying it's impossible, and 119 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:46.799 I would welcome any prodigal son who returns at the age of sixty five. 120 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:58.639 Not a lot of people have massive ideological, massive deep seated ideological changes at 121 00:12:58.639 --> 00:13:05.000 the age of sixty five. It just doesn't happen very often, especially when 122 00:13:05.080 --> 00:13:13.279 that ideological change is perfectly timed for one's political ambitions. You can't be a 123 00:13:13.320 --> 00:13:16.519 Republican president if you're pro choice. That's a bridge too far for the Republican 124 00:13:16.559 --> 00:13:22.720 electorate. So Donald Trump snaps his fingers and all of a sudden, he's 125 00:13:22.759 --> 00:13:28.840 pro life. So this is the problem is that I don't know that Donald 126 00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:35.080 Trump views this issue very sincerely. I don't think he actually cares about this 127 00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:41.320 topic all that much. He knows it's important to a big segment of the 128 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:46.960 electorate, and he delivered on three Supreme Court justices willing to overturn Roev Wade 129 00:13:48.360 --> 00:13:56.000 very good, but he doesn't really care about it. And as a result, 130 00:13:56.360 --> 00:14:01.679 the outside of him his judicial appointments, which frankly, he just kind 131 00:14:01.720 --> 00:14:09.720 of farmed out to the Federalist Society, which didn't exactly have a perfect batting 132 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:16.919 average outside of his judicial pick. His judicial picks were largely really really good 133 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:20.679 because he completely farmed it out to the Federalist Society. Outside of that, 134 00:14:20.759 --> 00:14:26.039 though, his enactment of pro life policies through the administration, through the regulatory 135 00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:35.919 regime that he actually has control over through his administration, it was spotty. 136 00:14:35.480 --> 00:14:41.120 He enacted the Mexico City Policy and put in place a great Title ten policy 137 00:14:41.159 --> 00:14:48.759 to stop funding planned parenthood, but kept allowing Anthony Fauci and Francis Collins to 138 00:14:48.919 --> 00:14:56.080 fund federal research for embryo destructive stem cell research and even to fund federal research 139 00:14:56.639 --> 00:15:01.720 on the body parts of a boarded feet up until pro lifers raised such a 140 00:15:01.720 --> 00:15:05.039 stink about it that he changed it about two or three, about three years 141 00:15:05.039 --> 00:15:13.919 into his four year term. So that's what I'm saying is he doesn't really 142 00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:16.639 care about the abortion issue. He wants it to go away, and so 143 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:20.840 he's almost acting like mat Web now because it's at the states. You got 144 00:15:20.840 --> 00:15:26.720 to follow your heart, and that's always going to be weaker than the Democrat 145 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:33.279 position. Abortion should be legal. Abortion should be legal for all nine months 146 00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:37.759 of pregnancy for any reason. It should be federally funded and people should have 147 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:41.120 universal access to it. That's the Democrat position nationwide, all nine months, 148 00:15:41.399 --> 00:15:50.759 any reason, and we're going to respond to it with this wishy washy flailing 149 00:15:50.799 --> 00:15:54.399 around. When we return, I want to talk about this idea that there's 150 00:15:54.480 --> 00:16:00.159 some other thing, apparently, some other thing that we have to get to, 151 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:03.320 that abortion is just a distraction from. That's next. On the John 152 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:11.840 Girardi Show, President Trump had a video statement released along with a written statement 153 00:16:11.879 --> 00:16:18.240 that he released on Truth Social about abortion that everyone's sort of dissecting today and 154 00:16:18.519 --> 00:16:26.080 my end assessment of it is wildly inadequate. Doesn't actually say what his position 155 00:16:26.200 --> 00:16:29.679 is anymore. All he says is, well, every state has to vote 156 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:32.159 on it the way they think. You gotta follow your heart on this thing, 157 00:16:32.879 --> 00:16:37.039 which is like the biggest like like he's standing on the sidelines, like 158 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:40.960 he's not an integral player. Like the relevant questions are, what will you 159 00:16:41.159 --> 00:16:45.720 do if your presidency comes in? Are there is there legislation you would sign? 160 00:16:47.399 --> 00:16:52.360 Is there are there executive orders you would make? Is there regulatory changes 161 00:16:52.399 --> 00:16:59.679 you would enact? No? None of that. All he talks about is 162 00:16:59.720 --> 00:17:03.799 that we we have to win elections. We have to win elections because our 163 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:10.440 country's on the edge of failure, so he says in his written statement, 164 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:15.720 great love and compassion must be shown when even thinking about the subject of life. 165 00:17:15.720 --> 00:17:18.440 But at the same time, we must use common sense in realizing that 166 00:17:18.440 --> 00:17:22.240 we have an obligation to the salvation of our nation, which is currently in 167 00:17:22.359 --> 00:17:27.400 serious decline, to win elections, without which we will have nothing other than 168 00:17:27.440 --> 00:17:37.440 failure, death, and destruction. We need to save our nation by compromising 169 00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:42.200 a bunch on abortion. All right, let me just make this clear. 170 00:17:47.480 --> 00:17:55.400 There's not some other issue that's more important. That abortion is something that we 171 00:17:55.480 --> 00:18:00.799 deal with on the road to that we need to compromise on abortion so that 172 00:18:00.200 --> 00:18:07.799 we can win the election and save the nation. Save the nation from what? 173 00:18:07.799 --> 00:18:19.000 What is more important for saving the nation from? There's nothing that's more 174 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:26.759 important. Guys, do you understand how many abortions happen in a year? 175 00:18:29.160 --> 00:18:34.000 A million last year are the best estimates that we have, and the numbers 176 00:18:34.039 --> 00:18:38.000 are always fuzzy because California doesn't report its abortion statistics. So that's a massive 177 00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:41.640 gaping hole in our knowledge and understanding. But people are still able to do 178 00:18:42.119 --> 00:18:47.640 you know estimates and assessments. The assessment was that in twenty twenty three, 179 00:18:47.880 --> 00:18:57.200 one million abortions happened one zero zero zero zero zero zero a million. Just 180 00:18:57.599 --> 00:19:06.559 fathom if you can, the tidal wave of human suffering that's accompanying that. 181 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:11.200 A million children who don't get to see the light of day, a million. 182 00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:15.519 You know, we know that at least seventy percent of abortions are against 183 00:19:15.559 --> 00:19:21.559 the preference of the mother who's having them. So hundreds of thousands of women 184 00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:26.119 suffering and sorrowing over an abortion they didn't want to have but felt compelled to 185 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:34.680 because of finances or this or that. Every year, another million, another 186 00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:40.599 eight hundred thousand, another nine hundred thousand, and you know what's a lot 187 00:19:40.640 --> 00:19:47.440 of what's driving it. By the way, federal executive policy, the Biden 188 00:19:47.480 --> 00:19:52.200 administration changing the rules for access to the abortion pill, which, by the 189 00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:55.759 way, I'm not talking about the morning after pill. I'm talking about the 190 00:19:55.759 --> 00:19:59.799 abortion pill. These are pills to bring about an abortion up to ten weeks 191 00:19:59.799 --> 00:20:02.680 in to a pregnancy. Okay, this is the most common way that abortions 192 00:20:02.680 --> 00:20:06.400 happen nowadays. Most of the time it's not happening via surgery. It's a 193 00:20:06.440 --> 00:20:08.960 pill that you can take up to ten weeks into a pregnancy that basically artificially 194 00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:18.079 recreates a miscarriage up to ten weeks. A lot more health roast associated with 195 00:20:18.119 --> 00:20:22.359 it than surgical abortion. But what happened. The Biden administration altered the FDA 196 00:20:22.519 --> 00:20:26.720 regulation around this pill so that it could be shipped through the mail or picked 197 00:20:26.759 --> 00:20:29.160 up at a major pharmacy, and all of a sudden, as soon as 198 00:20:29.160 --> 00:20:38.079 he does that, boom abortion numbers skyrocket. That's something that a new pro 199 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:45.880 life president could stop, could reverse. But does Trump talk about that. 200 00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.799 No, he doesn't talk about that at all. He doesn't talk about any 201 00:20:49.839 --> 00:20:56.079 of the stuff he actually can do. He acts again, he acts like 202 00:20:56.240 --> 00:21:00.640 he is a sideline spectator to this, that there's some thing and that, 203 00:21:02.039 --> 00:21:07.880 oh, well, we got to just win this election because our national salvation 204 00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:11.759 is at stake. This is our national salvation being at stake. A million 205 00:21:12.200 --> 00:21:18.319 people being unjustly killed in a year. That's more important than anything else. 206 00:21:18.680 --> 00:21:26.359 I think the immigration problem is serious, I admit freely, openly. I'm 207 00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:29.440 not like I'm constrained not to. I think it's a terrible thing that we 208 00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:36.480 have gazillions of people that we have millions of people coming into the country sidestepping 209 00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:38.079 the normal immigration laws to come into the country in this way. I don't 210 00:21:38.119 --> 00:21:41.680 think that's a good thing. I think there's all kinds of problems with national 211 00:21:41.720 --> 00:21:45.680 sovereignty and all kinds of problems that that involves. It's not as bad as 212 00:21:45.720 --> 00:21:51.000 a million people being murdered in a year. It just isn't. There is 213 00:21:51.119 --> 00:21:57.640 nothing that can be worse than that. Like this is like being in Germany 214 00:21:57.759 --> 00:22:03.039 in nineteen forty and thinking that the well, we you know, this this 215 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:06.319 problem that they're having with the Jews, you know, we gotta we gotta 216 00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:10.160 like compromise on that so we can filk focus on the real problem, which 217 00:22:10.200 --> 00:22:14.400 is, geez, this economy we're facing. What are we gonna say for 218 00:22:14.440 --> 00:22:18.680 the futures for German children? Like, who gives a crap about anything else? 219 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:29.240 As long as that issue isn't being resolved, I just cannot Look. 220 00:22:29.880 --> 00:22:33.799 Obviously, I'm way more pro life than Trump is, and probably the electorate 221 00:22:33.920 --> 00:22:37.160 is far less pro life than I am. But I think those of us 222 00:22:37.160 --> 00:22:41.640 in the base have to do what we can to hold him accountable. And 223 00:22:42.599 --> 00:22:47.400 if he's not, I mean, he's just kind of a band. He's 224 00:22:47.559 --> 00:22:51.039 he is acting like he is a spectator to this. This was the biggest 225 00:22:51.039 --> 00:22:55.319 nothing burger statement in human history. He doesn't say anything that he's actually going 226 00:22:55.359 --> 00:23:02.839 to do. I mean, it's wild, unsatisfying. And look, you 227 00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:03.920 guys, if you listen to this show, you know me, I call 228 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:07.680 balls and strikes with Donald Trump. If he does something good, I say 229 00:23:07.720 --> 00:23:08.839 he does something good. If he does something bad, I say he does 230 00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:14.160 something bad. If he's you know, with all of his myriad lawsuits, 231 00:23:14.440 --> 00:23:17.400 I play it pretty straight, and I've said where you know, I think 232 00:23:17.400 --> 00:23:26.599 most of them against him have been bogus. But this this was woefully inadequate, 233 00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:32.359 woefully disappointing. When we return, I just because this Trump thing on 234 00:23:32.440 --> 00:23:34.519 abortion is making it I think the news of the day. I want to 235 00:23:34.519 --> 00:23:40.400 talk about the state of the abortion the anti abortion movement in the United States, 236 00:23:40.640 --> 00:23:41.839 where we are legally, and where we need to go. That's next 237 00:23:41.880 --> 00:23:49.640 on The John Gerardy Show. To understand the context of Trump's comments today about 238 00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:55.599 abortion, I think I want to lay out what sort of the national landscape 239 00:23:55.640 --> 00:24:00.599 is with abortion right now legally, what the overturning of Row Acts did, 240 00:24:00.680 --> 00:24:03.960 and where we sort of stand with all these things, what kind of coherent 241 00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:11.319 federal policy Republicans need to have when it comes to abortion, Because I think 242 00:24:11.359 --> 00:24:17.680 there is a sense, a pretty strong sense among a lot of Republicans that 243 00:24:18.119 --> 00:24:21.519 now that we've overturned Roby Wade, we're done, We're done, mission accomplished. 244 00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:27.000 I've heard basically Ann Coulter has adopted that position, and a lot of 245 00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:33.759 other Republicans who were sort of pretending to be super duper pro life have all 246 00:24:33.799 --> 00:24:37.680 of a sudden come out as not really pro life, not really caring about 247 00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:45.039 the issue of abortion as such. All Right, So let me just describe 248 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:51.480 what the pre twenty twenty two landscape was, what the pre DBS landscape was, 249 00:24:51.519 --> 00:24:56.920 what the Row landscape was, the Row landscape, just to remind you 250 00:24:57.000 --> 00:25:00.720 all, and maybe for some of you you had a vague sense of this 251 00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:06.319 but didn't clearly have a sense of it. What Roe v. Wade did 252 00:25:07.720 --> 00:25:11.279 and its successor case planned Parenta versus Casey, which was a Supreme Court case 253 00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:15.759 from nineteen ninety two. This was when Anthony Kennedy really stuck his foot into 254 00:25:15.160 --> 00:25:23.559 our national abortion politics. It basically said that the Constitution of the United States, 255 00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:33.039 our foundational law in America mandated legal abortion for the whole duration of pregnancy 256 00:25:33.079 --> 00:25:37.440 and for any reason. Basically, it said, yes, you can limit 257 00:25:37.480 --> 00:25:47.240 abortion after viability unless the pregnancy threatens the mother's quote health. And the way 258 00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:49.880 that Another Supreme Court case from nineteen seventy three issued the same day as Row, 259 00:25:49.960 --> 00:25:56.920 called Dovers as Bolton. The way it interpreted health was so broad that 260 00:25:56.960 --> 00:26:04.279 it encompassed essentially all abortions, all pregnancies. All pregnancies implicate maternal health, 261 00:26:06.359 --> 00:26:15.279 and therefore all pregnancies could be banned could legally qualify for abortion. So in 262 00:26:15.400 --> 00:26:19.000 nineteen seventy three, when Roe was issued, we went overnight from having some 263 00:26:19.039 --> 00:26:22.480 of the most conservative abortion laws in the world, where most states had banned 264 00:26:22.519 --> 00:26:26.200 abortion except to save the mother's life, to overnight, in nineteen seventy three, 265 00:26:26.599 --> 00:26:33.480 every state had the most permissive laws about abortion possible, and states couldn't 266 00:26:33.559 --> 00:26:40.759 change their own laws about abortion. Why Well, because the Supreme Court said 267 00:26:41.559 --> 00:26:48.759 the Constitution mandates legal abortion. If the Constitution mandates something, you can't pass 268 00:26:48.799 --> 00:26:53.559 an individual state law that contradicts it. It would be like California trying to 269 00:26:53.559 --> 00:26:59.079 pass a law that says, you know, the right to keep in bare 270 00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:02.480 arms shall be in fringe. Well, no, you can't pass a law 271 00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:08.880 like that, has to be consistent with the Second Amendment. So that's where 272 00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:15.680 we found ourselves. From nineteen seventy three to twenty twenty two, it was 273 00:27:15.759 --> 00:27:21.640 this impossible position for pro lifers to actually bring about any meaningful change. All 274 00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:29.240 fifty states had legal abortion for the full term of pregnancy, all fifty states. 275 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:40.759 All fifty states had legal abortion throughout pregnancy. What overturning Robi Wade did 276 00:27:41.119 --> 00:27:47.200 was simply allow states to pass laws to limit abortion at Maybe one state will 277 00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:51.559 limit abortion at twenty weeks out of a forty week presidency. Maybe this state 278 00:27:51.599 --> 00:27:53.480 will limit abortion at sixteen weeks. Maybe this state of limited abortion at the 279 00:27:53.480 --> 00:27:56.920 first trimester, Maybe this state of limited abortion when fetal heartbeat can be detected. 280 00:27:57.519 --> 00:28:04.000 That is what over turning Roe v. Wade allowed. So it was 281 00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:15.759 this necessary condition. Now what's been happening since twenty twenty two is that a 282 00:28:15.799 --> 00:28:22.480 bunch of states, the minute they have actual elections on the topic of abortion, 283 00:28:22.640 --> 00:28:26.559 a democratic process where people vote up or down on the abortion issue, 284 00:28:26.640 --> 00:28:30.079 what do we find, Well, we find that a lot of Republicans are 285 00:28:30.079 --> 00:28:33.359 not actually that pro life. So every single state where abortion has been discussed, 286 00:28:33.920 --> 00:28:40.000 the pro life position has lost. Either the state has ratified some new 287 00:28:40.119 --> 00:28:49.359 legal protection for abortion through popular vote, or a limitation on abortion was defeated. 288 00:28:51.480 --> 00:28:55.359 And because of that, and there were losses like that in elections in 289 00:28:55.400 --> 00:29:03.359 Ohio which was disastrous, Kentucky, California, several other states, Republicans are 290 00:29:03.440 --> 00:29:07.440 now terrified of the abortion issue. And that's chiefly what Trump's statement, I 291 00:29:07.440 --> 00:29:12.599 think is responding to. He's terrified of abortion. He thinks that if the 292 00:29:12.680 --> 00:29:18.640 election becomes an up and down referendum on abortion, is abortion good, then 293 00:29:18.720 --> 00:29:22.000 vote for Biden is abortion bad than vote for Trump. If that's all the 294 00:29:22.039 --> 00:29:26.720 election's about, Donald Trump knows he will lose, Okay, So as a 295 00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:33.319 result, Donald Trump is basically abandoning the field. He's running away. He's 296 00:29:33.319 --> 00:29:36.559 saying, well, everyone's got to vote the way they think about it. 297 00:29:37.039 --> 00:29:45.720 Everyone's got to follow their heart. That's all He's literally he's expressed almost no 298 00:29:45.400 --> 00:29:52.200 actual concrete opinion on the question of abortion whatsoever in this statement. Now, 299 00:29:55.279 --> 00:30:03.480 just because the Supreme Court turned the question of abortion overdess basically said states can 300 00:30:03.519 --> 00:30:11.319 regulate abortion, it doesn't mean that the federal government can't regulate abortion. What 301 00:30:11.400 --> 00:30:17.640 Democrats are trying to do. What Joe Biden has pledged to do if he 302 00:30:17.839 --> 00:30:21.839 gets enough Democrats in the Senate to get rid of the filibuster rule. This 303 00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:27.200 is what he's pledging to do. So remember how I described that Roe v. 304 00:30:27.319 --> 00:30:33.599 Wade basically imposed on all fifty states this standard that abortion has to be 305 00:30:33.680 --> 00:30:38.119 legal for the duration of pregnancy. It did that as a mandate of the 306 00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:44.759 Constitution. What Biden wants to do is pass a federal law, just a 307 00:30:44.839 --> 00:30:49.160 normal federal law, to mandate on all fifty states that abortion be legal. 308 00:30:51.160 --> 00:30:55.559 So instead of having abortion be legal by a constitutional mandate, which is what 309 00:30:55.640 --> 00:30:59.480 we had in America from nineteen seventy three Roe v. Wade until twenty twenty 310 00:30:59.519 --> 00:31:04.200 two, does Biden wants to pass a federal law, a normal federal law 311 00:31:04.279 --> 00:31:08.319 passed by the House the Senate, signed by the President, that mandates legal 312 00:31:08.319 --> 00:31:15.799 abortion on all fifty states. That is what he wants, That is what 313 00:31:15.880 --> 00:31:18.400 he is committed to. That is a plank in the Democratic Party platform. 314 00:31:19.000 --> 00:31:23.079 Biden has promised not only would he do it, he would even give up 315 00:31:23.119 --> 00:31:27.640 the filibuster rule in the Senate to do it, so basically, the Senate 316 00:31:27.680 --> 00:31:30.839 can change its filibuster rules. The philibuster rule in the Senate is basically, 317 00:31:30.839 --> 00:31:36.599 for most pieces of legislation in the Senate, you actually need sixty votes to 318 00:31:36.720 --> 00:31:40.440 advance it rather than just fifty. Right. It makes it very difficult. 319 00:31:40.839 --> 00:31:45.400 So basically, for almost any non budgetary thing, you need sixty votes in 320 00:31:45.440 --> 00:31:48.200 the Senate to pass it rather than fifty. And this makes the Senate a 321 00:31:48.319 --> 00:31:52.480 kind of conservative body in the sense that it doesn't it's very hard to pass 322 00:31:52.519 --> 00:32:00.759 something in the Senate. Biden has pledged to abolish the philibuster rule for the 323 00:32:00.799 --> 00:32:10.279 sake of passing abortion legislation like this. He's also willing, seemingly to expand 324 00:32:10.279 --> 00:32:17.799 the Supreme Court in the same way pack the Supreme Court. The number of 325 00:32:17.920 --> 00:32:22.880 justices on the Supreme Court is not set by the Constitution. Congress can pass 326 00:32:22.960 --> 00:32:25.119 a normal law, majority of the House, majority of the Senate, president 327 00:32:25.200 --> 00:32:30.160 signs it to expand the number of justices. If that happens, then the 328 00:32:30.160 --> 00:32:37.200 president appoints and the Senate confirms new justices. Democrats are very open about this 329 00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:43.920 idea of packing the Supreme Court to undo the Dobbs decision. So one way 330 00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:50.400 or another, Democrats have a strong committed position, this is what we're gonna 331 00:32:50.440 --> 00:32:57.039 do. We're gonna make abortion legal without restrictions in all fifty states. The 332 00:32:57.119 --> 00:33:09.200 Republican response is Republicans have no freaking idea what they're doing. They are such 333 00:33:09.759 --> 00:33:19.880 weenies that they can't say some consistent position. They can't say, for example, 334 00:33:21.119 --> 00:33:24.799 if elected president, we have to do everything in our power to reregulate 335 00:33:24.839 --> 00:33:31.000 the abortion pill, because the deregulation of the abortion pill under President Biden puts 336 00:33:31.000 --> 00:33:37.359 women's health at risk but also has led to a massive increase in the number 337 00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:44.240 of abortions. But no, we're not gonna say anything like that, And 338 00:33:44.480 --> 00:33:47.119 I think when we return, I want to talk about this. This is 339 00:33:47.240 --> 00:33:52.079 why I want a lawyer as president, because I don't think fundamentally Donald Trump, 340 00:33:52.119 --> 00:34:00.960 even quite still fully understands the ways in which he can impact abortion policy, 341 00:34:00.200 --> 00:34:02.000 or if he does, he just chooses not to talk about it. 342 00:34:02.000 --> 00:34:09.360 That's next on the John Girardi Show. I've often made the argument that I 343 00:34:09.440 --> 00:34:16.559 think only lawyers should be president. I think it's kind of bizarre that they 344 00:34:16.599 --> 00:34:24.679 aren't. I think it's to elect a non lawyer as president. I think 345 00:34:24.880 --> 00:34:31.440 is as silly as electing a non lawyer to be the district attorney. Like, 346 00:34:31.480 --> 00:34:38.760 what is the district attorney to The district attorney basically is in charge of 347 00:34:38.800 --> 00:34:43.519 criminal law enforcement for a county. Right, That's what Lisa smith Kamp does. 348 00:34:43.599 --> 00:34:45.519 She's in charge of criminal law enforcement for the County of Fresno. There's 349 00:34:45.559 --> 00:34:51.559 some civil stuff, but for the most part, criminal law enforcement. We 350 00:34:51.599 --> 00:34:55.519 would never dream of electing a non lawyer as DA. I mean, theoretically, 351 00:34:55.599 --> 00:35:01.280 anyone can run for DA. You know, there are plenty of people 352 00:35:01.280 --> 00:35:07.320 in the Greater Fresnel area I like very well. Like if Trevor Carrey decided, 353 00:35:07.320 --> 00:35:09.119 Hey, I'm gonna run for DA, I wouldn't vote for Trevor. 354 00:35:09.119 --> 00:35:13.360 I like Trevor quite a bit, but he's not a lawyer, Okay. 355 00:35:13.559 --> 00:35:16.800 I'd vote for a lawyer over Trevor. Trevors just doesn't have that qualification. 356 00:35:16.840 --> 00:35:22.960 That's okay. He's qualified to do a lot of other good things. Now. 357 00:35:23.519 --> 00:35:31.360 Similarly, the president is in charge of all federal enforcement of the law, 358 00:35:32.239 --> 00:35:39.880 all of it. All of federal law, environmental law, health law, 359 00:35:42.079 --> 00:35:50.599 criminal law, securities law, antitrust law, everything, the whole body 360 00:35:50.639 --> 00:35:57.119 of law. Talking like Jerry Seinfeld for some reason, and yet for some 361 00:35:57.159 --> 00:36:08.320 reason, and including the regulatory state, which involves the president using the mechanisms 362 00:36:08.320 --> 00:36:15.840 at his disposal to affect his preferred policies within the parameters of laws passed by 363 00:36:15.880 --> 00:36:23.039 Congress. I don't really think Donald Trump, in his statement on abortion, 364 00:36:23.159 --> 00:36:32.199 basically said no actual restriction. He enumerated, no actual restriction on abortion he 365 00:36:32.239 --> 00:36:37.119 supported, nor did he even mention the various good things even that his own 366 00:36:37.159 --> 00:36:40.480 administration did while he was in office to restrict. He didn't mention the Mexico 367 00:36:40.519 --> 00:36:47.280 City policy, didn't mention all these things that they did. And I just 368 00:36:47.440 --> 00:36:57.519 think that Trump to this day fundamentally has a hard time understanding his executive power 369 00:36:57.599 --> 00:37:02.239 as president to change things. I don't think he necessarily fully understands it, 370 00:37:02.280 --> 00:37:07.639 and I think that's why a lot of stuff didn't happen while he was in 371 00:37:07.719 --> 00:37:14.400 office, why he wasn't able to ruthlessly maneuver the mechanisms of the executive state 372 00:37:14.440 --> 00:37:16.880 to accomplish what he wanted. Now I think there's been some recognition of that. 373 00:37:17.880 --> 00:37:23.920 I think he's pushing or his campaign surguits are pushing for giving him greater 374 00:37:24.079 --> 00:37:32.840 latitude to fire federal employees and replace them with his own chosen people. But 375 00:37:35.079 --> 00:37:38.679 I this is the thing about it that that has always worried me. When 376 00:37:38.679 --> 00:37:45.199 you elect a non president to this role. This is fundamentally a legal enforcement 377 00:37:45.880 --> 00:37:51.119 job. And that's why, all things being equal, I mean, yeah, 378 00:37:51.119 --> 00:37:55.719 I'd rather elect a virtuous non lawyer than an evil lawyer, But all 379 00:37:55.719 --> 00:38:00.559 things being equal, I'd really wish, I really wish there is a lawyer 380 00:38:00.599 --> 00:38:05.719 running for this job. And I think it's why Democrats use the administrative state 381 00:38:05.800 --> 00:38:08.800 so much better. They've had lawyers in the presidency for the last thirty years, 382 00:38:08.880 --> 00:38:12.079 unlike us. That'll do it for John Girardi Show. See you next 383 00:38:12.079 --> 00:38:12.800 time on Power Talk.